Plattegrond van Tongeren, ca. 1701-1715 1701 - 1715

Curator: Let's turn our attention to this fascinating piece, “Plattegrond van Tongeren,” or “Map of Tongeren,” dating from around 1701 to 1715. It's an ink drawing on paper by Samuel Du Ry de Champdoré, rendered in that confident Baroque style. What are your initial impressions? Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by how it's less a map and more a symbol. Look at the formal layout, that walled city almost levitating on the page, surrounded by… is that farmland? It's so meticulously ordered, yet it hints at the anxieties of the time, this obsession with defense, enclosure. Curator: Precisely. It reflects the Baroque period’s emphasis on order and control, almost as if to tame nature, or maybe control people? The cityscape motif is dominant here. These geometric patterns aren’t accidental, you know. Editor: I think it shows not just defense but aspiration. That rigid geometrical grid, imposed upon the landscape… It speaks to power. A planned civilization is quite symbolic. What about that blank space within the walls though? It almost mocks the very ambition you just mentioned. Curator: I perceive it differently, I read it more like possibility, an emptiness waiting to be filled with…well, more power. Baroque art often served as propaganda; images like this would solidify ideas of urban pride and sovereign authority. See those delicate inky lines and that controlled geometry. Those lines say it all. Editor: Maybe... or it hints at the precariousness of that control. The dark ink, stark against the parchment, conveys permanence but then I look closely and see all this open area is just...nothing! It looks like something still not done or never finished and you want me to feel this certainty about civilization, power, planning... when I look I see something failed in reality! Curator: You've presented me with an entirely novel lens; I'm quite thrilled about that! These renderings are always interesting because there is an attempt to display that the place it is displaying, *IS* an organized plan, as you look and analyze that reality through time and imagery! It's fascinating. Editor: Precisely! The symbols endure. We still plan. We still hope for order, even though real life laughs in the face of geometry!